Southern Illinois University (SIU) at Carbondale is the only university in the state of Illinois that offers Graduate and Undergraduate degrees in Mining Engineering. The Mining and Mineral Resources Engineering (MMRE) Department at SIU is well known for its coal-research both in the national and international spheres. Although, the department has only five faculty members, it is among the leading Mining Engineering Departments in the country on the basis of externally funded research grants. In the undergraduate level, it offers a B.S. in Mining Engineering and a B.S. in Mining Engineering with a specialization in Geological Engineering. The areas of specialization in the graduate level include rock mechanics and ground control, utilization of coal combustion by products, coal gasification, coal and mineral processing, geological engineering, mine environment, coal bed methane and CO2 sequestration.